- Koo Chen-fu
Infobox President
name =Koo Chen-fu
imagesize =
caption =
order =
office =President of the Straits Exchange Foundation
term_start =1990
term_end =2005
predecessor =none (new title)
successor =Chang Chun-hsiung
birth_date = birth date|1917|1|6
birth_place =
death_date = death date and age|2005|1|3|1917|1|6
death_place =
nationality = ROC (Taiwan)
spouse =
children =
alma_mater =
religion =
footnotes =Koo Chen-fu (zh-tpw|t=辜振甫|p=Gū Zhènfǔ|w=Ku1 Chen4-fu3,
6 January 1917 -3 January 2005 ), was aTaiwan ese businessman and diplomat. He led theKoos Group of companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of theStraits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Koo arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator in both the 1993 and 1998 meetings (so-called Wang-Koo talks).Biography
Born in northern
Taiwan into a wealthy family, Koo attendedTaihoku Imperial University (now National Taiwan University) as Taiwan's former PresidentLee Teng-hui did. He inherited a substantial fortune and a business when his fatherKoo Hsien-jung died in 1937 while Koo was only a sophomore. Koo graduated in 1940. He also pursued a graduate degree in Japan.Koo was jailed in 1946 for 19 months on treason charges for helping the Japanese. After his release, he took refuge in Hong Kong and only returned to Taiwan in 1949 to marry his wife,
Cecilia Koo . He focused on runningKoos Group as well as on his political career that led to his elevation to the politburo ofKuomintang .Koo became chairman of the
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in 1991. On16 December 1991 , a little over ten months after the establishment of the SEF, the authorities of PRC set up theAssociation for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), withWang Daohan as its chairman. The following year Koo and Wang held preliminary talks inHong Kong that resulted in the so-called "1992 Consensus " and facilitated negotiations of practical matters. However, the content and the existence of this "1992 consensus" is still widely disputed. In 2001, Koo publicly affirmed that the meeting did not result in a consensus on the issue of "one-China." In April 1993, Koo and Wang met in Singapore to hold the first formal discussions between Taipei and Beijing since 1949. The two met again in Shanghai in 1998. On18 October 1998 , Koo met PRC PresidentJiang Zemin in Beijing, in what was then the highest-level talks yet held between the two sides. The talks were called off by Beijing in 1999 after ROC PresidentLee Teng-hui proposed histwo-states theory .Koo Chen-fu died of renal cancer on the morning of
3 January 2005 . He was 87.External links
*Lindy Yeh. [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/04/15/132003 The Koo family: a century in Taiwan] . "Taipei Times", April 15, 2002.
*Alejandro Reyes. [http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/98/1030/nat2.html Tycoon and statesman: Koo has excelled in many roles] . "Asiaweek.com", October 3, 1998.
*Melody Chen. [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/01/04/2003217943 Koo Chen-fu, 88, dies of kidney cancer] . "Taipei Times", January 4, 2005.
*Joy Su. [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/archives/2005/01/04/2003217958 Koo one of the nation's most important figures] . "Taipei Times", January 4, 2005.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/195649.stm Gaps remain between China and Taiwan] , "BBC News", October 18, 1998. Report on the 1998 talks.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.